Mahendra Singh Dhoni's presence during the current domestic season has been of immense help to the Jharkhand youngsters but today it was the turn of Bengal's wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami to get some priceless suggestions from the former India captain.
"I have never had an opportunity to enjoy a one-on-one session with Dhoni bhai. Today since the match was postponed, I went up to him and sought his time. He obliged almost immediately. I spent good 15-20 minutes talking about my game. I was a fan but today I was more of a student," Shreevats told PTI on the sidelines of the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
The former India U-19 skipper spoke about mental make-up before big games, the concept of bad patch and other stuff like that.
"Dhoni bhai said that no one exactly knows what is poor form and there is nothing called getting out of a bad patch. Often, it just takes two to three good shots while batting that will indicate that things are on right track for a player," the Bengal keeper, who has been in good form during the season, said.
Being a keeper himself, it's rare opportunity to get a chance to speak to someone of Dhoni's stature and Shreevats did not want to miss a chance to pick his brains.
"He (Dhoni) told me that if I am playing at this level, I need not worry about the basics. He spoke more about mental frame of a player at the highest level. He said that it is never possible that a player can shut out all sorts of worries ahead of a big match but the key is to ensure that external factors are kept at bare minimal. The less one thinks about the end, the better he knows about the means," Shreevats said.
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